Fine weather on way for bank holiday weekend

The outlook for the August bank holiday weekend is good. Met Éireann is expecting high pressure to build over Ireland from the south towards the end of the week and into the weekend, leading to settled conditions. Daytime highs at this stage look likely to be in the low to mid-20s.

As for today, Monday, the forecaster says scattered showers already in Atlantic coastal counties will become more widespread as the day progresses. Some of the cloudbursts will be heavy, with a risk of thunder, especially in the west and north. But these showers will gradually become more isolated come nightfall, leaving long clear spells.

Tuesday is expected to be a breezy day with moderate to fresh and gusty south to southwesterly winds. Showers will be concentrated in the west and north, merging to longer spells of rain at times during the morning and early afternoon, before easing to scattered showers later. Elsewhere, cloudy periods and a few passing showers will alternate with bright or sunny spells. Top temperatures of 16 to 21 degrees are expected.

Wednesday will feature brighter intervals in eastern and northern areas at first, but will become mostly cloudy with patchy outbreaks of rain and drizzle spreading to all areas. The rain could be persistent and occasionally heavy in parts of the west and southwest during the afternoon and evening.

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On Thursday spells of rain and drizzle are expected to give way to sunnier conditions in the east and southeast later in the day. A warm day with maximum temperatures of 20 to 24 degrees, generally, but a little cooler in the Atlantic coastal fringes.

Meanwhile, the clean-up continues in Northern Ireland today after weekend flash flooding caused severe damage to homes and businesses.

More showers are predicted for the coming days, some of which could be heavy, but conditions generally will revert to more sunny weather, starting on Thursday with the promise of a warm weekend.

The weather station at North Belfast International Airport recorded 88.2mm (3½ inches) of rainfall, more than an entire average precipitation for July, on Saturday afternoon.

Homes lost power with some of the worst flooding on the North Circular Road area of Lurgan. Reports indicated the water was contaminated by sewage and rubbish.